Stall-Turn Team

What's up, Smogon? I saw that a lot of people use VoltTurn teams that, I must say, tend to be pretty annoying, but I decided to tag it with lots of entry hazards, that will do massive damage to a switching Pokemon, due to my VoltTurning. So let's get started.

TEAM AT A GLANCE:​

More detailed look:
So, basically, this team (and the match) is divided into 2 parts: stalling and VoltTurning. First three Pokemon accomplish this pretty nicely, as they have good type synergy and can set up every type of hazards.

I find Swampert a very good lead as it is able to tank almost every hit thrown at it and set up Stealth Rocks first turn, very vital for the following stalling part. EQ is obviosly a powerful STAB move and Ice Beam is for Dragons trying to set up, as Swampy 2HKOes 'Nite with it and takes +1 Outrage. Roar to force away other set-uppers, as well as get some nice damage with SR.

The best defensive wall in the game? I assume I can say that. The IronMan adds the complementary things for SR to the field, Spikes. I know it gets trapped by Magnezone, but that's why Whirlwind is there. (I tried Shed Shell, but the Zone was too rare to make it more useful than lefties.) Roost is obviosly for healing and Brave Bird for finishing or getting rid of annoying Fighting-types (which I have a bit of problem with). Not to mention it has perfect type synergy with Pert as long as we talk about super-effective.

Second Best Hentai Tentacles Rape Monster Just Behind Cradily comes into the field to remove any hazards, so poisonous for the stall team and set up Toxic Spikes of it's own. However, Scald is to get some burns on Levitators that are able to avoid the poisoning. And Protect obviously to scout Choice-users.

* * *​

When the field is messed with lots of stuff, it's time to get offensive and force lots of switches. I find Rotom-W, Scizor and Infernape to have really good move coverage and each of them can fulfill another function (special, physical and mixed sweeper).

It's ready! The chicken is in the... washer, I guess. The fastest member of this team gets the momentum going with STAB Volt Switch. If I manage to predict right (which is often, as I like to predict a lot) let's score some KO's with STAB Hydro Pumps. HP Ice knocks out Dragons and Thunderbolt provides the opportunity to stay in and grab some vital damage.

Say hello to the strongest U-Turn in the metagame. Scizor is slow, but has a bunch of resistances, useful resistances that will often force a switch. Then this pivot wrecks an incoming Pokemon (that doesn't resist it) and adds the grist to the mill. Bullet Punch is there for revenge killing and abusing the Technician, while Pursuit gets rid of Latii. Superpower can smack a predicted Steel switch-in, hopefully a Magnezone.

I didn't want to Choice-lock every offender, so I chose Life Orb Infernape, that is naturally very fast and has even Attacks, perfect split for a Mixed Sweeper. After my stats getting absolutely demolished with Close Combat and Overheat, 2 powerful STABs, U-Turn quickly and nicely washes them away and provides an appropriate switch-in with some damage. Grass Knot is the move to whip away Swampert and heavy waters, preferably previosly damaged (what am I talking about, I take at least 37.5% HP a switch-in, hopefully).

So this is probably all. Feel free to comment and apply any necessary changes.

I think your team is kinda weak to Thundurus-t after Swampert is taken out as its electric attacks would probably do a lot to your team. Also since you set up hazards, you should consider having a ghost pokemon to act as a spin blocker. Jellicent would be a good choice for that role although it doesnt help your electric weakness much. Just make sure you don't let swampert faint till the threat is gone.

Hi! Your team is very, very weak to Grass types with a coverage move to hit hard your Grass resists. Breloom and Venusaur immediately come to mind, since the first can set up on Swampert with ease, forcing it out, and OHKOing everything else apart from Skarmory, which is promptly Spored; and the second that just wrecks you in sunlight, if it's not low enough in HP to be revenged by Scizor. Also, your team strategy values hazards a lot, but many spinners can come in for free on your defensive core (Starmie, Forretress, both can do that) and spin away easily, while taking little to no damage. This flaw can be partially corrected in two ways. First, by using a Celebi instead of Swampert (I'm thinking about a Specially Defensive version here, since Skarmory can already handle many physical threats). Celebi can still continue to provide the much needed SR support, while easily checking threats like Breloom, and to a lesser extent Keldeo, and many rapid spinners (Starmie hates Giga Drain, while Forretress is roasted by HP Fire). Celebi can't really check Venusaur, although it can take an unboosted LO Sludge Bomb and retaliate, putting it in Scizor's BP KO range, however it provides a much needed additional Fighting resist, and it has generally good synergy with the rest of your team.

Now, you still need to check Venusaur somewhat, since you can't just rely on hazards and Scizor revenge killing to get rid of it. I'm suggesting something really unusual here, so take this with a grain of salt and test it to see if it works in pratctice, however a Chandelure seems to fit really well in place of Infernape. Chandelure provides additional resistances to U-Turn, Grass, Ice, Poison, and immunities to Fire and Fighting, while being able to hit hard almost every switch in. Venusaur can't OHKO it even at +2, and only has a 25% chance to do so if Chandelure switched into Rocks, which is quite impressive if you ask me (it obviously OHKOs Venusaur back...). Also, many common threats are checked, namely Genesect (everything it carries is resisted), Specially Defensive Heatran (well, sort of, but it can't hurt Chandelure at all), Steels in general, Breloom and many others. Since you already provide Spin support via Tentacruel, hazards shouldn't be a huge problem for you, and Celebi and Skarmory already lure out many Fire and Ice attackers that are just asking Chandelure to take advantage of that for a free switch in. Of coruse Chandy has its share of troubles (common weaknesses and SR) but all of those are already quite covered by the rest of your team (Ground: 2 immunities and 1 resistance; Water: 3 resistances, Dark: 2 resistances) so it shouldn't be a crazy idea to try and fit it onto your team. It even forces switches a lot, and can spinblock if needed, to further enhance the damage you can get out from your hazards.